...Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) said he's happy the percentages are down, but he pressed Johnson to give him the "total numbers."

"Last year, 2014, the total number including the Mexican UACs (unaccompanied children), I believe, was 68,000," Johnson replied. "If you take out the -- and I'm doing this from memory now. If you take out the Mexican children, I believe the total number was about 58,000. I suspect, if it stays at the current rate, will come in at around 40 percent, 60 percent of 68,000, whatever that number is."

(Forty percent would be 27,200; 60 percent would be 40,800.)

"So you're still talking about -- and percentages are lower, but you're still talking about...

"Thousands of people, yes," Johnson said.

"Yes, yes, thousands..." Cuellar echoed.

Cuellar rounded the number of unaccompanied children expected to enter the U.S. this year to "30,000 individuals, or maybe less than 30,000. It's still a lot," the congressman noted....

...Mr. Obama, for reasons known only to him, reserves his most potent love bombs for Islam, perhaps in gratitude for the early education he received in Islamic schools in Indonesia. He was so blinded by gratitude that he can’t see the Islamic radicals everyone else sees clearly. No one at the White House dare call radical Islamic terrorists either “Islamic” or “radical.”

But his throwing a stink bomb at Israel just now is puzzling. “The failure to maintain the degree of mature and co-operative discretion that officials from several governments have exercised until now marks a serious change in the code of conduct,” a government source tells the Weekly Standard. “It is not wise to draw attention to [the Israeli nuclear program] because it would tend to destabilize the international order and encourage others to pursue nuclear capabilities.”

The non-binding amendment, proposed by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., and approved Thursday during a marathon voting session on the Senate budget resolution, sought to prohibit the federal government "from mandating, incentivizing or coercing states to adopt the Common Core State Standards."

Bush has faced scrutiny from conservatives for steadfastly backing the standards, in particular as he prepares to run for president. But Bush spokesman Tim Miller told the Washington Examiner Friday that the former Florida governor "applauds" Vitter's stand.

"Governor Bush applauds Senator Vitter and Republicans in the U.S. Senate for ensuring states' autonomy when it comes to adopting high standards that are right for their students," Miller said. "As Governor Bush demonstrated through his leadership in Florida, states have always been more effective at addressing policy challenges in our schools."

...Heidi’s personal touch may help offset Cruz’s stentorian style, friends say. “When voters get to know who Heidi Cruz is, they will see an amazing, amazing woman and I think that that will help to at least counter this image of Ted that has been portrayed in the media,” Panton says.

Mrs. Cruz is no stranger to elections. She met her future husband while volunteering for George W. Bush’s presidential campaign and made an instant impression. “I’m embarrassed it took me two days to ask her out to dinner,” the senator told the New York Times. She impressed a lot of other people, too, going on from the campaign to hold multiple posts in the Bush 43 administration, culminating in her post at the National Security Council. The family dinner table isn’t a foreign-policy briefing room for the Cruzes, but her perspective certainly hasn’t diminished his understanding of international issues in the Western hemisphere, her area of specialty. “In addition to being the senator’s partner on the campaign trail, she also will actively advise him in areas for which she is an expert,” Phillips says....

"The other side has withdrawn from its positions compared with the past, otherwise we wouldn’t have stood at this point and stage in the talks at all," Baeidinejad told reporters in Tehran on Wednesday.

The officials spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the sensitive negotiations as the latest round of talks began between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif. The negotiators are racing to meet an end-of-March deadline to reach an outline of an agreement that would grant Iran relief from international sanctions in exchange for curbing its nuclear program. The deadline for a final agreement is June 30.

Travel schedules of Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif suggest that the parties may gather for a “signing” ceremony on Sunday, March 29 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Obama revenge for Netanyahu's Congress talk? 1987 report on Israel's top secret nuclear program released in unprecedented move.

◼ Breach - Weekly Standard
◼ Mideast 'free fall' - Politico
Mounting chaos in the region puts the administration on the defensive. Barack Obama faces a slew of Middle East crises that some call the worst in a generation, as new chaos from Yemen to Iraq — along with deteriorating U.S.-Israeli relations — is confounding the president’s efforts to stabilize the region and strike a nuclear deal with Iran.

The meltdown has Obama officials defending their management of a region that some call impossible to control, even as critics say U.S. policies there are partly to blame for the spreading anarchy.

Obama is caving on Iran nuke talks because he's used to dealing with weak Republicans who he rolls over every month. Iranians are tougher.

...In a development that has largely been missed by mainstream media, the Pentagon early last month quietly declassified a Department of Defense top-secret document detailing Israel’s nuclear program, a highly covert topic that Israel has never formally announced to avoid a regional nuclear arms race, and which the US until now has respected by remaining silent....

1. Golf: A lot of Americans wish they had the time, let alone the money, to hit the golf links twice a month. The day after the Japan earthquake and tsunami, Obama played his 61st round of golf, fewer than 26 months into his presidency.
2. Foreign travel... 3. Vacations... 4. Dining out...5. Playing basketball... 6. White House concerts... 7. White House theater... 8. Sporting events... 9. Youth sports... 10. NCAA brackets... ◼ Details at the link...

...The whole sordid deed is then filmed in graphic detail, from Smith choosing a doll and her hair color, to deciding on an outfit for her, popping a Viagra, taking a shower pre-coitus, and then blurred-out shots of the actual act itself.

“We found other brothels where you can get schoolgirls who will chain themselves up to a fake train, so we can mimic groping them in a train. And we found another one where they’re in schools, doing math at the board, and we just go up and ravage them. It’s a very civilized, superior country, Japan. Lots for any fetish.”

Yet this man just conducted an 18-minute sit-down interview with the Commander in Chief, the most coveted interview of a journalist’s lifetime and one once reserved for the most hard-bitten and veteran of the White House press corps....

In the first six minutes of Smith’s interview, Obama opines at length on his climate change policies.

“You have a very sane and rational plan,” a fawning Smith says. “But we’re not acting in a sane and rational way.”

Indeed.

Obama doesn’t have time to stop by VA hospitals. He has to interview with people that bone Japanese sex dolls on tv: https://t.co/7A3S9qfffd

He told anchor Megyn Kelly that he even welcomed the animosity from the press: "I think one of my favorite comments was The New York Times said in the last day that, 'Cruz cannot be nominated because the Washington elites hate him.' And I have to admit my immediate thought was, 'Holy cow, do I have to disclose that to the Federal Elections Commission as an in-kind contribution?' I mean, I can't think of a better summary of why I'm running."

Taxpayers who fail to comply and do not qualify for an exemption will be penalized. This penalty has been dubbed a “shared responsibility payment.” Whatever moniker you choose, this provision is sure to increase the burden on a number of individuals and families, especially those who are struggling financially. Therefore, it is crucial to learn more about this portion of the law. at the link.

We often criticize President Obama but it would be wrong to report his successes however limited when they occur.

On Tuesday the Senate voted on the budget submitted by President Obama, and his submission received record support in the upper chamber of congress, they voted it down by a vote of 98-1. The only yes vote was Senator Tom Carper (D-DE)....

According to Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) including the latest vote three time in the past six the president received one vote for his budget which means this week's vote gives Obama a tie for his most successful budget presentation yet.

Instead of parking at the angle defined by the painted lines on the pavement, she took it head on, repeatedly striking another vehicle in the process, according to the play-by-play commentary in the video posted by Roll Call on Tuesday.

In a development that has largely been missed by mainstream media, the Pentagon early last month quietly declassified a Department of Defense top-secret document detailing Israel’s nuclear program, a highly covert topic that Israel has never formally announced to avoid a regional nuclear arms race, and which the US until now has respected by remaining silent.

But by publishing the declassified document from 1987, the US reportedly breached the silent agreement to keep quiet on Israel’s nuclear powers for the first time ever, detailing the nuclear program in great depth.
The timing of the revelation is highly suspect, given that it came as tensions spiraled out of control between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama ahead of Netanyahu’s March 3 address in Congress, in which he warned against the dangers of Iran’s nuclear program and how the deal being formed on that program leaves the Islamic regime with nuclear breakout capabilities.

It is one thing to shrink from the fight. It is one thing to melt in terror over the unimaginable savagery of the tactics of Islamic radicals. It is one thing to become so paralyzed with fear that your knees buckle and you collapse into the bloody folds of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s skirts.

That is the choice President Obama has made, with steady guidance from Secretary of State John Kerry, who will soon assume the title as history’s greatest buffoon from former President Jimmy Carter and former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

These men — President Obama and Mr. Kerry — are so many fathoms out of their depth that the best they can do for civilization is to toss control of the entire Middle East into the hands of the Iranians. That really and truly is their strategy.

Let Iran figure it out, they say. Let them castrate the gays. Let them lop off the hands of petty thieves. Let them enslave little girls into lifetimes of servitude.

It is one thing to command the world’s most powerful military force with such cowardice, devoid of any convictions. It is one thing to dismiss the lives of so many innocents with such cavalierness.

But it is entirely something else — something far more despicable — to turn against your own, to betray your allies. To forsake the very people whose rights and freedoms you swore to defend and uphold....

A senior military official involved in the investigation described “very smooth, very cool” conversation between the pilots during the early part of the flight from Barcelona, Spain, to Düsseldorf, Germany. Then the audio indicated that one of the pilots left the cockpit and could not re-enter.

“The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door, and there is no answer,” the investigator said. “And then he hits the door stronger, and no answer. There is never an answer.”

He said, “You can hear he is trying to smash the door down.”

While the audio seemed to give some insight into the circumstances leading to the Germanwings crash on Tuesday morning, it also left many questions unanswered.

“We don’t know yet the reason why one of the guys went out,” said the official, who requested anonymity because the investigation was continuing. “But what is sure is that at the very end of the flight, the other pilot is alone and does not open the door.”

ou can forget about all the promises that were made by the administration and their Democrat allies during the debate… they were lying clearly inaccurate in their estimates. So how bad is it? The Daily Mail came out with the first report.

It will cost the federal government – taxpayers, that is – $50,000 for every person who gets health insurance under the Obamacare law, the Congressional Budget Office revealed on Monday.

The number comes from figures buried in a 15-page section of the nonpartisan organization’s new ten-year budget outlook.

The best-case scenario described by the CBO would result in ‘between 24 million and 27 million’ fewer Americans being uninsured in 2025, compared to the year before the Affordable Care Act took effect.

Pulling that off will cost Uncle Sam about $1.35 trillion – or $50,000 per head.

With Washington cozying up to Tehran as nuclear negotiations approach countdown stage, Arab media in the region are lashing out at the United States for jilting its Arab allies.

Unlike Israelis, who are focused on the danger of nuclear weapons in the hands of a regime calling for their country’s elimination, citizens of Arab states are concerned about Iran’s imperial ambitions. The nuclear threat is seen as a tool to further those ambitions rather than a direct threat.

Khaled Al-Dahil, a Saudi political commentator writing in the London-based daily Al-Hayat, said the Obama administration is allowing Iran and its Shiite militias to operate freely in Iraq and Syria in order to advance the signing of a nuclear agreement. “Why does Obama consider it necessary to reach such an agreement? Because his objective is to tie the Iranians’ hands for 10-15 years in hopes that by then Iran will have a new leadership and will become a different country—perhaps a democratic country with less of a desire for nuclear weapons. This perception is superficial and faulty because it is based on dreams that are more like delusions. He is gambling with the future of the region.”

Saudi Arabia is bombing Iran-backed rebels in Yemen who just plundered US intelligence files. Funny the Iranians stabbed Obama in the back.

Of course Cruz put it more cannily then that, but that was the message. We can continue.

“But you don’t have to imagine because I’m doing it right now. I am standing right here, committing what is accounted political suicide saying every damned thing you ever felt like saying but couldn’t. I’m on YouTube giving every bit of lip you were afraid to give for fear you might lose your job. Do you see that hat over there my friend? I’m going to knock it down. All I am asking you to do is take out your cellphones and punch in this number and by that ever so negligible act, join in the fray!”

Yippee. There’s not a few who would rise to their feet under the sting of that message and bang their palms together not out of the love of Ted Cruz, but under the impetus of shame. Shame that it took so long for someone to say what was obvious; shame that they hadn’t said it themselves.

The intellectual establishment has predictably taken the bait. Bearded so openly, they have sneered and they snorted and cast aspersions down like ordure from their high towers upon the rabble beneath. That’s exactly the expected response and they’ve only confirmed Cruz’s message. By and by the worst of these taunts will be withdrawn by canny media analysts who understand the trap as laid, but the damage is done. Ted Cruz wanted the aristocracy to show its upturned face and that, it has done. KEEP READING

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Times of Israel that “it’s no secret” that the Obama administration had attempted to influence the outcome of the election…

…“The White House is driven by three main motives,” the senior official said. “The first is revenge [over the Congress speech]. The second is frustration: It’s no secret that they were involved in an attempt to bring down the Netanyahu government – something that we have clear knowledge of – and failed. The third [motive] is the administration’s attempt to divert attention from the negotiations with Iran to the Palestinian issue.”

Not only do Israeli policymakers have a full understanding of Obama’s involvement in Israeli elections, they have also already reasoned their way around Obama’s potential politicking at the UN...

And are at ease portraying Obama as the hypocrite who is busy covering his tracks:

…“They come and accuse us of torpedoing negotiations even though they know that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas himself said no [to a deal], twice — once to then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton in 2011, and once to Secretary of State John Kerry last year.”

The plans of the White House and shame of American Jewish Left aren’t bothering members of an Israeli administration who have higher priorities than being #1 on Obama’s popularity list.

The humiliating denouement to America’s involvement in Yemen came over the weekend, when U.S. Special Forces were forced to evacuate a base from which they had operated against the local branch of al Qaeda. This is the same branch that claimed responsibility for the January attack on Charlie Hebdo and has long been considered to pose the most direct threat to Europe and the United States.

So who should Barack Obama be declaring war on in the Middle East other than the state of Israel?

There is an upside-down quality to this president’s world view. His administration is now on better terms with Iran—whose Houthi proxies, with the slogan “God is great, death to America, death to Israel, damn the Jews, power to Islam,” just deposed Yemen’s legitimate president—than it is with Israel. He claims we are winning the war against Islamic State even as the group continues to extend its reach into Libya, Yemen and Nigeria.

He treats Republicans in the Senate as an enemy when it comes to the Iranian nuclear negotiations, while treating the Russian foreign ministry as a diplomatic partner. He favors the moral legitimacy of the United Nations Security Council to that of the U.S. Congress. He is facilitating Bashar Assad’s war on his own people by targeting ISIS so the Syrian dictator can train his fire on our ostensible allies in the Free Syrian Army.

He was prepared to embrace a Muslim Brother as president of Egypt but maintains an arm’s-length relationship with his popular pro-American successor. He has no problem keeping company with Al Sharpton and tagging an American police department as comprehensively racist but is nothing if not adamant that the words “Islamic” and “terrorism” must on no account ever be conjoined. The deeper that Russian forces advance into Ukraine, the more they violate cease-fires, the weaker the Kiev government becomes, the more insistent he is that his response to Russia is working.

To adapt George Orwell’s motto for Oceania: Under Mr. Obama, friends are enemies, denial is wisdom, capitulation is victory.

“Islam, unreformed today, is not a religion of peace,” said well-known Somali-born activist and writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who said on ABC’s “This Week” that the Muslim religion needs reform. In the interview, host Martha Raddatz charged that Ali’s views “incite people to be anti-Muslim,” but Ali held her ground.

Ali suffered female genital mutilation (FGM) as a young girl in Somalia. She eventually escaped to Holland and participated in a documentary about the abuses that girls suffer in Muslim countries.

The documentary’s producer, Theo Van Gogh, was killed in broad daylight in Holland – the killer’s note was a threat for Ali.

Ever since, Ali has used her notoriety to shed light on what she believes are the problems with the religion of her youth. Ali has had a fatwa issued against her and travels with bodyguards at all times.

Rand Paul appears to have finalized plans for his presidential campaign announcement and at least part of his subsequent rollout, according to invites posted by his political committee RAND PAC to the website ◼ Eventbrite.

As previously reported, the Kentucky senator plans to announce his bid for president April 7 at the Galt House Hotel in Louisville. The invitation posted online urges supporters to "join Senator Rand Paul for a very special rally."

"You won't want to miss this historic event," the invitation adds. The event, not billed explicitly as the official launch to Paul's campaign, is set to begin at 11:30 a.m.

In a letter exclusively obtained by The Daily Caller, Senate Democrats pleaded with Health and Human Services secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell to delay an Obamacare rule change that puts companies with 51 to 100 employees in the costlier “small group” market instead of the “large group” market. The rule change, which will result in higher premiums for many companies, goes into effect in 2016.

The letter was signed by Democratic Sens. Claire McCaskill, Heidi Heitkamp, Chris Coons, Joe Manchin, Joe Donnelly and Jon Tester and independent Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with the Democrats.

Welcome

I would like to introduce myself. I am John Schutt the new chairman of the Humboldt County Republican Central Committee. I'd like to ask each one of you to send me your thoughts and ideas on making Humboldt great again. I also am asking for your help, need republicans for open spots on the central committee, committee seats, letters to the editor writers, and many other opportunities. The 2018 election for governor and other seats is just around the corner and we will need all your help. Please feel free to call the office (442-2259) or leave a message here (or on Facebook) and I will get back to you as soon as possible.